Last year, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government increased the eligible annual income limit of BPL families for inclusion in the scheme from ₹1.20 lakh to ₹1.80 lakh.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme provides health coverage to all BPL families. Under the scheme, people can avail the benefit of free medical facilities up to ₹5 lakh. Currently, 715 hospitals are impaneled under the scheme in the state. 

Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its pan-India audit has found serious irregularities in the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Madhya Pradesh, reported NDTV on 10 August.

According to the report, over ₹1.1 crore was paid to about 403 patients who were declared ‘dead’ in the database. The CAG audit report even mentioned that across the state during the same period, around 8,000 patients were shown to be hospitalized at multiple hospitals.

In the report, CAG named 24 state hospitals, including a government hospital, that surprisingly showed much higher occupancy than the actual bed strength.

The audit stated that 25 hospitals had submitted claims for 81 patients twice for various surgical treatments. “The Madhya Pradesh health authority paid the full amount for both claims as against the prescribed rate of 50% payment on the second claim,” NDTV quoted the audit report as saying.

Over 23 crore beneficiaries have been verified and issued Ayushman cards to date so that they can avail of free treatment under the scheme.

Updated: 12 Aug 2023, 12:26 PM IST